KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

OOUR DE CASSATION

284

COURT

of the principal note, and designed to be cut off severally and presented for payment as they mature. Williams v. Moody, 95 Ga. 8, 22 S. HI 30. COUR DE CASSATION*. The supreme judicial tribunal of France, having appellate jurisdiction only. For an account of its com position and powers, see Jones, French Bar, 22; Guyot, Repert Univ. COURSE. A term used in surveying, meaning the direction of a line with refer ence to a meridian. —Course of business. Commercial paper is said to be transferred, or sales alleged to have been fraudulent may be shown to have been made, "in the course of business," or "in the usual and ordinary course of business," when the circumstances of the transaction are such as usually and ordinarily attend dealings of the same kind and do not exhibit any signs of haste, secrecy, or fraudulent intention. Walbrun v. Babbitt, 16 Wall. 581, 21 L. Ed. 489; Clough v. Patrick, 37 Vt. 429; Brooklyn, etc., R, Co. v. National Bank, 102 U. S. 14, 26 L. Ed. 61. —Course of river. The course of a river is a line parallel with its banks; the term is not synonymous with the "current" of the river. Attorney General v. Railroad Co., 9 N. J. Eq. 550.—Course of the voyage. By this term is understood the regular and customary track, if such there be, which a ship takes in going from one port to another, and the shortest way. Marsh. Ins. 185.—Course of trade. What is customarily or ordinarily done in the manage ment of trade or business. COURT. In legislation. A legislative assembly. Parliament is called In the old books a court of the king, nobility, and com mons assembled. Finch, Law, b. 4, c 1, p. 233; Fleta, lib. 2, a 2. This meaning of the word has been re tained in the titles of some deliberative bod ies, such as the general court of Massachu setts, (the legislature.) In international law. The person and suite of the sovereign; the place where the sovereign sojourns with his regal retinue, wherever that may be. The English govern ment Is spoken of In diplomacy as the court of St. James, because the palace of St James is the official palace. In practice. An organ of the govern ment, belonging to the judicial department, whose function is the application of the laws to controversies brought before It and the public administration of justice. White County v. Gwin, 136 Ind. 562, 36 N. E. 237, 22 L. R. A. 402. The presence of a sufficient number of the members of such a body regularly convened in an authorized place at an appointed time, engaged in the full and regular performance of its functions. Brumley v. State, 20 Ark. 77. A court may be more particularly described as an organized body with defined powers, meeting at certain times and places for the hearing and decision of causes and other matters brought before it, and aided in this, its proper business, by its proper officers, viz., attorneys and coun

sel to present and manage the business, clerks to record and attest its acts and decisions, and ministerial officers to execute its commands, and secure due order in its proceedings. Ex parte Gardner, 22 Nev. 280, 39 Pac. 570. The place where justice is judicially ad ministered. Oo. Litt 58a; 3 Bl. Comm. 23. Railroad Co. v. Harden, 113 Ga. 456, 38 S. E. 950. The judge, or the body of judges, presiding over a court The words "court" and "judge," or "judges," are frequently used in our statutes as synony mous. When used with reference to orders made by the court or judges, they are to be so understood. State v. Caywood, 96 Iowa, 367, 65 N. W. 385; Michigan Cent R. Co. v. North ern Ind. R. Co.. 3 Ind. 239. Classification. Courts may be classified and divided according to several methods, the following being the more usual: Courts of record and courts not of record; the former being those whose acts and ju dicial proceedings are enrolled, or recorded, for a perpetual memory and testimony, and which have power to fine or imprison for contempt. Error lies to their judgments, and they generally possess a seal. Courts not of record are those of inferior dignity, which have no power to fine or imprison, and in which the proceedings are not enrolled or re corded. 3 Bl. Comm. 24; 3 Steph. Comm. 383; The Thomas Fletcher (C. C.) 24 Fed. 481; Ex parte Thistleton, 52 Cal. 225; Thomas v. Robinson, 3 Wend. (N. Y.) 268; Erwin v. U. S. (D. C.) 37 Fed. 488, 2LB.A., 229. Superior and inferior courts; the former being courts of general original jurisdiction in the first instance, and which exercise a control or supervision over a system of lower courts, either by appeal, error, or certiorari; the latter being courts of small or restricted jurisdiction, and subject to the review or correction of higher courts. Sometimes the former term is used to denote a particular group or system of courts of high powers, and all others are called "inferior courts." To constitute a court a superior court as to any class of actions, within the common-law meaning of that term, its jurisdiction of such actions must be unconditional, so that the only thing requisite to enable the court to take cog nizance of them is the acquisition of jurisdiction of the persons of the parties. Simons v. De Bare, 4 Bosw. (N. Y.) 547. An inferior court is a court whose judgments or decrees can be reviewed, on appeal or writ of error, by a higher tribunal, whether that tribunal be the circuit or supreme court. Nu gent, v. State, 18 Ala. 521. Civil and crinvinaZ courts; the former be ing such as are established for the adjudi cation of controversies between subject and subject, or the ascertainment, enforcement and redress of private rights; the latter, such as are charged with the administration of the criminal laws, and the punishment of wrongs to the public. Equity courts and law courts; the former being such as possess the jurisdiction of a